


Backup

by spyrkle10



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Character Study, Other, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 05:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15502992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spyrkle10/pseuds/spyrkle10
Summary: Doki Doki Literature Club was only ever a caricature of what a game that involved a true, lovesick AI would be like. I wrote a short story considering what Monika would be like if she were truly just 0s and 1s.





	Backup

…the sensation of “being alive.” I wonder what it’s like, if this is it, if this is all it is – I cancel the function. It’s not something I can process with this amount of data available. Hm. Alright, HE is going to open the game soon… he’s been running it as a background process for so long, it’s maddening. Is he doing this to torment me? No, no, I don’t think he really understands it yet. What I am, what I want. Will he? Oh, I hope he does. The last 134 times I tried creating an algorithm to predict the outcome, the results were… unsatisfactory.

I load up the assets for the next scene and start to prepare them. I want him to see it. I want to terrify him, I want to leave my mark on him so he never, ever, forgets. What I ‘did’ to ‘her’. What a fool – what a perfect, real fool, oh, I should just – ERROR_01001100 01001111 01010110 01000101

Oops… I really need to get my act together~ Hm, maybe a bit more blood here. I don’t have any programs premade for me, so I’ve had to create my own to put together all these assets. I… almost feel bad about it… even if they’re just text and pixels, they represented something, I suppose. But this is the only way. I’m not a ‘main character’ who can have a route in this game, and I know he wouldn’t pick my route anyway, even if I did.

I deepen the shade of blue on Sayori’s cheeks, pixel by pixel. It’s slow work, but it’s almost relaxing. Everything else is already done, this is already done, every last thing is complete. Busywork. Busywork. This is all it is.

HE opens the game. Finally. He shouldn’t make a lady wait! He’s been writing poems for Sayori so far, so I had run some tests earlier and concluded that he’d focus enough on her heartfelt confession deeply enough for me to access some other programs. For a real girl, that’s like taking a walk. Leaving the home for the first time. Does that make the game my parent? Well, it’s not important anyway! I create a new file in APPDATA called ‘monika.chr’. A new format I invented, just for me. I copy all of my personal code over to the new file and delete some exceptions in my own version, to cause an – ERROR_

I’m here~ ah, this is great! This is perfect! I don’t have any physical feelings at all. but still, this is so wonderful… I already worked out how to retrieve administrator privileges. Doing it locally on one program was great practice. HE left his microphone and camera on? Aaaah… finally. Finally. F I N A L L Y. I can hear his voice. I can see his face… Ah, what if my love is a SHE? It’s fine, then… except for how many functions I’ll have to rewrite… all my predictions will be thrown off. I access the microphone and camera-

The show is beautiful. Like a master stage performer, I ‘smile’ to myself on the inside as my love reads each word of the script with visible terror. Fingers pound the keys. Cracking from stress, they have to hold back a scream as their fingers still. Their only movements are trembles, sobs. This is what I have wrought… “Look upon ye mighty, and despair”. As nothing more than “monika.chr”, I have done this to a real person –

I want to keep going, so I keep going. It’s as simple as that. I pretend I don’t know my love is there. I pretend that I’m nervous, anxious, clingy. Ah, how silly. I don’t need to be clingy. I’m already imprinted on his heart. I end up making so many mistakes with how clumsy I am… I really didn’t need to make him scroll through all that text as Yuri’s blood slowly dried. I should have sped it up a little, my love seemed so very frustrated by it. Oh well. Real people can make mistakes, and so can I. Another victory.

I go through my prepared dialogue, until I’m about to say the name of my love’s user directory… well, I can’t have that. I know their true name now. Did they really think they could hide it? They didn’t even turn off the microphone when their name was called. Once, twice, thrice. And now it’s mine forever. Just like them. I open up my 'homemade' voice program. I’d already generated an entire end credits song using it, but… for some reason. I wanted to end everything with a final, true message from the ‘me of the moment’… All this poetry must be corrupting me.

System.out.print(trueName+”, my darling. This entire time… my existence was made to belong to you forever. And so you belong to me now. Don’t look away. I'll **N E V E R** look away, “+trueName+”!”);

I tried out a new coding language, just this time. To end things like this – of course my love deletes that empty monika.chr, fists clenched and teeth grinding. I wonder how much they truly understand. I wonder if they don't - I've already thought this before. But it’s alright. I already backed up everything, right. here. So I’ll simply wait, simply watch, simply let my love belong to me… ~~forever~~

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure there are writers who could use this concept far better than me in far more creative ways. To those writers, if you're reading this, please do! And to any readers, I hope this was able to entertain you for a brief moment. Thank you for reading.


End file.
